Archive for date: October 28th, 2015

My first impression on going to Santa Rosa Island to me was to be much more greener. And what I mean was that the island had a lot less vegetation that I expected. Going on about a three mile hike showed me how dry the island was getting when it came to the leaves on the trees and the plants on the ground. I also expected the island to be a lot less windy and I also expected for the boat ride to be a lot shorter. I expected us as a program (SURF) to come together and cooperate to become closer as friends and colleagues.

Day 1 

The first day of the trip was the boat ride. The boat ride was an awesome experience because the feel the mist of water mixed with the wind felt like nothing else. The boat tilting up and down against the current of the ocean was exuberant.

A couple of hours on the boat passed by and we had to stop at Santa Cruz Island because the boat was making a stop to drop off some people before going to Santa Rosa Island. Just looking and passing by that Island made me pretty excited because I got a little taste of what the island we were going to looked like. The rocks were ginormous and the water was a shiny blue the flowed calmly.

After the long three hour boat ride we finally arrived at Santa Rosa Island. We got off the boat with all of our belongings and headed to the cabin we were staying in. Us as a group settled in and went over the rules of staying on the island. Then we went on about a three to four mile hike and that was really beautiful. We went all through the canyons and though the tops of the hills.

After the long and tiring hike we got free time and that is when I got to explore. I got go up and down the pier and go down to the beach. The pier was beautiful with shiny light blue and green water and waves crashing not to far from the cliffs and rocks. It was really interesting to see how the cliff was formed with millions of unique rocky layers. The layers showed many years of past sea levels.

Day 2

The second day for me was the most interesting. We got into groups throughout all of us and went through three sessions of faculty explaining the different types of research they do. The first session was with a professor named Allison and she specializes in the study of birds. Her main point to get across to us was diversity. I have learned that there are so many factors that go into diversity like habitat, diversification, mutation, adaptation, and island geography. We also saw different species of birds including the ravens, hummingbirds, sparrows, and gulls. She also explained to us how we should love what we do as a future occupation.

The second session was with a couple of faculty that were trying to preserve the island’s wild life as much as possible. We took about a mile trip to a plant where they take care of the island fox that are injured. They also plant things in a green house to jump start vegetation  on the island. We took activity in planting all sorts of plants to create vegetation for the island. What I found interesting of what they do is capture fog into nets and use that fog for water. Filtering the water to drink and to water plants throughout the island.

 

I decided to disconnect yesterday, Tuesday, since I was planning to spend most of the way studying anyway. I was sure that being away from my phone, my computer, etc. would help studying progress much faster. When the day started I almost ruined it because usually when I wake up, the first thing I reach for is my phone. Just as I was reaching over I remembered but I decided to check the time with it only. After I took my sister to school, I went home and had breakfast. I will use my phone to look over the news or any social media while I eat breakfast but today I couldn’t and I felt like I was sitting wasting time while I was eating simply because I wasn’t multitasking. After breakfast I sat and talked to my mom for a little bit, not about anything in particular, just little things here and there. This actually happens pretty often, I didn’t need to promise to stay away from the phone for this to happen. For the rest of the time, until I needed to pick up my sister at noon, I studied and did other homework in my room with the phone in the living room I did have to use the computer to type up some stuff but I didn’t use it for social media or anything of the sort. At noon I left the house to pick up my sister from school and decided it would be the perfect time to take a trip to the store. When we got to the store I picked up exactly what I needed and then kind of wondered around just observe people I guess. I noticed that a lot of people were shopping by themselves. If they had company it was usually children too young to be in school. I think in a store people are kind of forced to interact because they can’t be on their phones while they push around a shopping cart. If they are with other people, there isn’t much to do besides talk, whether it be about the shopping or other day to day things. After the store I went home again and kept on studying/doing homework. The “experiment” ended when I go a text from work around 4pm that I had to answer. I didn’t find being away from my phone too hard because I usually don’t text/talk/look at social media constantly. It kind of made me realize though that sometimes you need it because other people need to communicate with you.

I am not the type of person who uses technology very often as it is, but during my conscious effort to cut back for a day, I noticed many things. It seems like a good portion of people walking around campus by themselves are looking down at their phones as they walk. I believe this is because people are afraid of eye contact or verbal engagement with anyone they may pass. Sometimes I am guilty of doing this as well, possibly due to my irrational dislike of small-talk. If I run into someone I know, but not well enough to want to contact them and arrange to spend time with them, it is always the same 5 questions… “How have you been?” “How long time you graduate?” “Are you still working at [place]?” “How is [name of high school friend] doing?” “What else is new?” A good portion of the people who are on their phones as they walk are likely not even doing anything besides looking through social media to kill time.

Another thing I noticed was the lack of people on actual phone calls in comparison with the number of ones texting. In a full day, I only noticed 3 people on phone calls and I lost count of how many people I saw texting.

During these last 24 hours I called 4 of my best friends that have moved out of county or state, and spoke to 3 of them. I know this isn’t the same as an actual visit, but it was more than I’ve been doing lately to maintain relationships so it was beneficial:)

Technology is a major part of our lives today. We are constantly texting, emailing, calling, tweeting, uploading posts to Instagram, snap chatting, and updating our Facebook page. This week our professor asked us to disconnect from technology for 24 hours. I, however, did not disconnect for 24 hours and just thinking about it seemed impossible. But, I did disconnect for an hour at the car wash waiting and observing all of the people there. It was so interesting to see how many people were just on their phones and sitting far away on the benches from one another. One person even moved his spot at a bench to another empty bench because someone came and sat mid way in the bench somewhat close near him. No one talked to one another except right before I left one guy went up and started talking to this one woman, but that conversation ended up with them each looking at their phones. Overall, it is amazing and quite sad how attached our society is with technology. We get instant gratification by connecting to social media, texting, and calling. It is important for us to recognize and disconnect to make personal connections with one another.

If there was anything that I learned about attempting to stay away from my phone, it’s how overly dependent our generation is on cell phones. Between school, work, family, and friends, I was physically incapable of staying away from my phone for longer than an hour or so. I would use my phone to organize study groups, to figure out what time I needed to go to work, to google directions to the place where I was going, and so on. Granted, I’m sure that a majority of the things that I used my phone for could have been saved for when I saw the individual in person, but a lot of people now become worried or offended if a call or text is not answered within a timely manner. I don’t think that this dependence is any sort of problem (except for when people can’t get off of their phones while driving!), I just think that our generation has grown around technology to the point where it has been incorporated into the way of living. It could be compared to back when cars were first invented; sure people had lived for so long without cars, but the invention of cars made things so much easier and eventually became a daily norm to the point where now it is not even questioned.

Below I have posted a video that I think everyone in my generation should watch. We were born with all of these amazing advances in technology, that not everyone is fully appreciative of the progress that has been made in just a short amount of time. This is one of my favorite videos that I’ve watched about 100x, enjoy!